UK boxed video game market fell in 2011

UK boxed video game sales weren't as bad last year as some had expected, an annual UKIE and GfK Chart-Track report has discovered.

Only seven per cent fewer boxed games were sold last year compared to 2010.

The take for all boxed video games was £1.42 billion. The take for all console video games - excluding PC - was £1.35 billion.

That means boxed PC game sales accounted for just £700,000 of the UK total (GfK Chart-Track does not count digital sales). But that's not surprising, given the prevalence of Steam.

The press release claimed software growth came from Xbox 360 and the arrival of 3DS.

The smaller than expected boxed game decline was the result of a barn-storming October, November and December. During that period, 51 per cent of the year's money was made, which explains publishers' fascination with "holiday" releases.

This man didn't expect much from the boxed retail market.

Mega-seller Modern Warfare 3 led the charge, selling 5 million copies in five days.

Console hardware sales amounted to £646 million for the year. Console/PC gaming accessory sales were £453 million (down 17 per cent year on year), with motion sensing peripherals accounting for more than a quarter (27 per cent).

Bertie is a senior staff writer, which doesn't mean he's old, although he is, a bit. He's part of the furniture here and reports on all kinds of things, the stranger the better. He's a bit odd but then who isn't? @Clert on Twitter.